InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Case of Double Personality ❯ The Hunt Begins ( Chapter 3 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

By: j0yrid3

N/A: Well, chapter three is up! I have to tell you all that the Shichinintai (Band of Seven) will play a fairly important part in this story, because...I like `em! :) And I am perfectly aware that Hakudoushi wasn't born when the Shichinintai were around, but...well it did start as a slip-up (damnit, the truth is out), but I ended up preferring it this way. It's going to get better and better, kidz, don't worry!

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha...But I would sell my soul to own his brother! -Drool-

ChapterIII: The Hunt Begins

Midoriko walked silently by Sesshoumaru's side.

She didn't particularly enjoy conversing with demons as she was sure, he didn't particularly enjoy conversing with humans. They were as different as night and day, humans and youkai.

Sesshoumaru admired the Miko in his own way. She was fearless and powerful and had a sense of duty and honor. She was, in some ways, like him. One could say she seemed frozen as a block of ice, and one would hesitate in calling her human, even though she was.

“Once we reach your camp, I will make a detour to a village to get proper clothes.” Her voice interrupted his chain of thoughts.

“These are your “other self's” garments?” he asked.

“She is not of this time period. In her world, this is the customary apparel. Do not think less of her because of it.” Midoriko answered.

Another time period...that meant his brother's Miko, Kagome he believed she was called, was from another time as well. Her clothes showed resemblance to Midoriko's other self, Kumiko.

“Do as you please.” He said in an indifferent tone.

They kept walking besides each other in silence until they reached the place Sesshoumaru had left Rin, Jaken and Ah-Un.

What seemed to be a toad youkai holding a strange staff approached Sesshoumaru quickly.

“Sesshoumaru-sama! Where have you been all this time?” He spoke in a shrill voice.

“Nowhere.” His master enlightened him.

“How come nowhere...” He started, but stopped abruptly in mid-sentence when he noticed the Miko:

“Oooooh! What's this human doing here?” the toad wanted to know.

The demon lord did not find it necessary to answer his retainer, so he just turned his back on the little toad leaving it to face Midoriko's cold gaze.

“Hmph, another pathetic human, as if Rin wasn't enough, now I'll have to baby-sit this one too.” Jaken mumbled loud enough for Midoriko to hear.

Faster than Jaken had ever seen any human move, the girl took out one arrow and aimed it at the small youkai's head.

“Mind your tongue, toad, or I'll do the whole world a favor and purify it.” She spoke calmly.

Jaken started to shiver as he stared at her bow. A miko, no less, and by the blinding light that the arrow emanated he would have to say she was a powerful one.

“A...as you wish.” He murmured and ran away to hide behind Ah-Un.

Sesshoumaru had observed the scene with interest. It had been rather amusing, the way she had handled Jaken and he could not help but feel sorry that she had not purified his tongue.

A bright laughter distracted his attention as Rin made her appearance, holding a large bouquet of flowers.

“Welcome back, Sesshoumaru-sama!” she said happily running towards the taiyoukai to give him the flowers. She stopped mid-way as she noticed Midoriko.

“Miko-sama! Are you coming with us?” the child asked hopefully.

Midoriko smiled at her. She loved children and if there was one good side in traveling with this demon, it was the little girl.

“Yes Rin. Please, call me Midoriko.” She answered.

The little girl approached her timidly and gave her the bouquet of flowers.

“Rin picked these up for Sesshoumaru-sama, but since you are a lady, Rin will give them to you!” the little girl smiled cheerfully.

“Thank you Rin. They are very beautiful.” The miko said receiving the flowers.

Rin gave a small bow and then ran off to pick more flowers.

Midoriko approached the taiyoukai, who seemed to have no interest in the world around him.

“I will go to the nearest village to find clothes and a weapon. I will be back shortly.” She announced and not waiting for his answer, she turned around and left.

“Weapon?” Sesshoumaru said to himself. Now that he thought about it, he remembered the tales said Midoriko rarely used a bow. Did she fight with a sword? This woman was beginning to be more and more intriguing.

ooooOOoooo

Midoriko was wondering how she could get the miko garments and the sword that she needed with no money, when it struck her.

The path she had taken was beginning to look awfully familiar. She noticed with awe that she remembered every detail of it, every bush, and every tree. It was the path that led to her home village. She started to walk faster, pushed by the desire to see how it had changed over the years.

The houses didn't look much different, new roofs here and there were the only sign that so many years had passed.

The people were doing their usual chores and she looked desperately to recognize any of them even if it was impossible.

Midoriko sighed and entered the village looking for what used to be the Shrine. She didn't have to look much as many villagers were gathered around it, praying.

She approached slowly, mesmerized by the image of the place she had spent most of her life in. She saw her sword on an altar in the middle of it, as well as a pair of the garments she used to ware: the miko outfit and amour. Next to the sword, she saw a lock of dark hair, which she immediately recognized as her own.

The villagers were praying for help at the Shrine. From the whispers she could pick up, she realized that their current Miko had died, killed by a vicious youkai that kept ravishing the village.

A spark of anger lit her dark eyes as she made her way through the crowd and into the Shrine to pick up her sword.

“Wait! What do you think you're doing?” A male voice shouted.

“You can't take those!” Another one followed

“They are protected by our holy Miko, who's lock of hair you see there! No one can touch them!” Three or four voices shouted at the same time.

Midoriko ignored the villagers and entered the Shrine, taking hold of her sword.

When she touched it, a bright purple light came out, almost blinding in intensity. Midoriko let her powers fill her whole body at the contact with the familiar weapon.

The villagers looked at her with astonishment as she took hold of her former garments as well.

Suddenly one voice broke the silence:

“Midoriko-sama! Midoriko-sama has returned to us!”

Moreover, as if that voice had awoken the others, in a few seconds they all started to cheer and bow in front of the Miko.

A faint smile appeared on Midoriko's face as she silenced the people with a wave of her hand:
”You must not let out word of this.” She said seriously.

“We won't, Midoriko-sama! But please help us, exterminate the youkai that has been haunting us for weeks!” A man that appeared to be the village chief said.

“It will come again tonight!” A woman cried.

Midoriko nodded her head in agreement and said:

“Return to your houses and have no worries. The youkai will not bother you after tonight.”

“Thank you, Midoriko-sama, thank you!”

The miko watched them go inside their homes, talking with each other, smiling and laughing. It was in those moments, the moments that she could help people, when she felt truly happy.

She quickly changed into the warrior miko outfit and grasped her sword. Demonic energy was approaching.

Moments later a huge centipede youkai emerged out of the forest and roared fiercely.

Midoriko wasted no time as she stepped out of the shrine and in the visual radius of the huge monster.

It attacked instantly, its huge mouth going for the Miko.

She didn't move an inch as she put the sword in a horizontal position in front of her.

When the youkai was just a millimeter away from Midoriko, her sword exploded in a wave of light. It cut the beast in half, dissolving parts of its flesh as the remaining ones fell to the ground in front of the miko.

To someone who didn't know Midoriko, it would have seemed that she had a very powerful demon blade. That someone couldn't be more wrong.

Her sword, if extremely sharp, was still a normal one. Midoriko's power than ran through it made it so dangerous.

The miko sheathed her sword and turned to see the awed villagers beholding the remains of the centipede.

“You will gather these remains and make weapons from them.” She instructed the dumbstruck people.

“Thank you, Midoriko-sama.” They managed to mumble.

Midoriko turned around and headed for the shrine. Once she reached the steps, she took out one of her arrows and shot it directly into the altar. Purple light filled the shrine and extended over the whole village, just to disappear the next moment.

“You are protected now. Youkai won't be able to see or smell this village.” She explained.

All the villagers fell to their knees in front of the warrior Miko.

“I have to go now.” She said in a firm tone and turned around, walking towards the forest.

The villagers watched her disappear into the dark forest and looked at each other as if to verify if it was real, if it wasn't only a dream.

Midoriko felt sad to leave her village behind; even she didn't know any of those people now. Her arrow would protect them from demon attacks, but they had no miko and she didn't have the time to train one. The arrow couldn't protect them from illness or bandit attacks...She had an advanced knowledge of herbs and she could...

No.

She couldn't let her Miko impulses keep her from her task.

The feel of youki distracted her from her bitter thoughts.

“What now...” she sighed with a bored expression on her face.

A small hurricane landed in front of her and she saw the same woman that had tried to take the shard away from Kumiko.

She silently took out one of her arrows.

“Oh, you think that if you've changed clothes you look more threatening now?” Kagura mocked.

“You tell me.” Midoriko replied in the same tone, firing an arrow that ripped off one of Kagura's earrings.

The wind youkai remained frozen with fear. What was that powerful purifying energy? Not even Kikyou's arrow emanated such power.

“I'm afraid I'm not such an easy target anymore.” Midoriko continued, taking out another arrow.

When she was about to release the second arrow and finish off Kagura, she felt demonic energy coming from above and she ducked just in time to avoid a wave of fire.

She looked up to see a demon horse and on it is back...a child. No, she corrected herself, a youkai.

The youkai with child appearance spoke:

“Just a normal human, huh, Kagura?” His tone was arrogant, like he was speaking to an inferior.

Then he turned to addressed Midoriko:

“I'm afraid I'm not such an easy target as Kagura here.”

“Who are you?” Midoriko asked, putting a hand on the hilt of her sword.

“My name is Hakudoushi. Now, miko, hand over the shard.” He replied.

“Come and get it!” she spat, taking out her sword.

“A miko that fights with a sword.” Hakudoushi thought. “Interesting.”

He charged as Midoriko swung her sword, releasing a wave of purifying energy. Hakudoushi managed to evade it and quickly erected a barrier around himself and his demon horse, Entei. Her purifying energy was not to be underestimated.

Midoriko gave a faint smile as she took out an arrow.

“You think that level of barrier would stop my arrow?” she asked pointing the arrow at his barrier and releasing it.

The arrow started to shine with bright light as it went through Hakudoushi's barrier, dissolving it.

“She broke Hakudoushi's barrier!” Kagura's eyes widened with surprise.

“Screw Naraku's stupid shard!” The wind user said to herself. “I'm out of here!” She took a feather out of hair and threw it into the wind, taking off with speed.

“Let that brat handle himself. If I'm lucky she'll kill him.” Kagura thought, disappearing into the night.

ooooOOoooo

Sesshoumaru had sensed Kagura's scent in the direction Midoriko had gone. What if that girl, Kumiko, was in charge again? He couldn't let her get killed, she could sense barriers and that was his only clue to finding Naraku, he thought converting into an orb of light and taking off with speed.

ooooOOoooo

Hakudoushi jumped off Entei so they could attack from different directions.

He landed in front of the miko and swung his halberd. She stopped it with her sword and managed to knock him back a few steps with a blow of purifying energy, just in time to avoid the wave of fire that came from Entei.

The Miko jumped a few feet back and quickly shot an arrow in the demon horse's direction, blocking another attack from Hakudoushi in the same time.

Entei avoided the arrow faster than the eye could see and then charged to hit the Miko with its enourmous hooves.

Midoriko found herself trapped between two opponents with no way out. She tried to think of a way out of this while blocking Hakudoushi with her sword and keeping Entei from touching her by channeling the purifying energy into her bow and using it as a shield.

Suddenly an orb of bright light knocked Entei away from her and took the form of Sesshoumaru.

“Damn him.” Hakudoushi cursed in his mind while jumping on his horse.

Sesshoumaru took out his sword and pointed it at Hakudoushi, releasing a wave of sword pressure in his direction. His sword, Tokijin, was known to cut enemies using sword pressure alone.

Hakudoushi errected a barrier around him and Entei. It was not strong enough to hold against the Miko's arrow, but it could protect him from Sesshoumaru's attack.

“Two demons fighting against a human woman. You disgust me.” The daiyoukai stated.

Hakudoushi knitted his brows. “Curse you, Sesshoumaru. She would be dead now if it wasn't for you.” He said to himself bitterly and took off.

Midoriko looked at Sesshoumaru with a puzzled expression. She had not expected his help, even if they were supposed to be allies. A demon helping her...if someone would have told her that in the future she would receive help from a demon she would have laughed her eyes out.

Sesshoumaru's voice brought her back to reality:

“You fought well.”

“Thank you.” She answered, looking into the daiyoukai's golden eyes.

“Shall we return?” He asked

“Definitely.” She answered, following him back.

ooooOOoooo

Naraku's eyes were studying Hakudoushi.

“A miko, you say?” He asked his detachment.

“Yes. And a very powerful one. Her arrow cuts through the barrier.” Hakudoushi answered.

“That's never good.” Naraku thought. Who could be this miko that appeared out of nowhere and had such skills?

“She fights with the sword as well as the bow.” Hakudoushi continued.

Naraku knitted his brows. He had heard of a miko that fought with the sword, but that was a very long time ago, even he was not alive back then. The miko that created the Shikon no Tama, Midoriko.

This was very strange indeed and needed to be investigated.

“Anything else?” he asked Hakudoushi.

“I would have succeeded in killing her if Sesshoumaru hadn't intervened.”

Another oddity. What was the daiyoukai's connection to this miko? Had he picked up his brother and father's habit?

“You may go, Hakudoushi.” He dismissed his detachment with a wave of his hand.

He needed to be alone to think this over.

The miko had one shard; she was probably searching for the others. This meant that they would inevitably cross paths.

He needed to know more about this woman and find out her weakness. Kanna's mirror would hand him the information he needed.

A/N:

Well, so far I can't tell if you guys like it or not, but I sure hope you do! If you don't, I welcome any criticism, hell even flames! :) At least that way I'll know that someone read it! :)